When asked to describe 'chocolate' in 8 words here's the response I got from 21 people

Of the 168 words 95 of them were different

The top word was Dark, and yet only said by 11 out of 21 people

Everyone had at-least one word not shared with anyone else

When we can get such different responses to a simple word like chocolate it's no wonder we struggle with other meatier words. Remember only 11 of the 21 people participating agreed on the most popular word, and everyone had at least one unique word to them.

Words have the power to impact how we act

Our internal image associated with a word or saying impacts our behaviour, which is the same for our stakeholders too. Which means noticing what words have a negative impact and changing them to something more resourceful is a great strategy.

For example, calling a stakeholder maverick is likely to mean we start very adversarially with them from the off.

Alternatively, exploring the metaphor contained within our words can provide us with a potential route to find a solution.

For example, when juggling balls we might just need to metaphorically get some Velcro so we can stick the balls waiting to be juggled into a board out of the way, or the plates yet to be spun can go on a plate rack!

This ability to find the solutions within the words we use is further explored in my book - can't see the wood for the trees - where we explore solutions hidden in the landscape when we're: stuck in a rut; up the creek without the paddle; going around in circles; treading water; and can't see the wood for the trees.

The key in all the above instances is bringing into conscious awareness the words we're using and the impact that they are or could have on the outcome we're getting or want.

More than happy to spend a day with your team doing a Procurement Mindset Audit - you'll be amazed at what will be uncovered.

Wednesday, 11 September 2019

How do you uncover the strategy of the other team?What activity do you undertake to discover what makes the other team tick?Which begs the following questions about the other team’s strategy:

Is it important?

What does that information enable you to do?

Will you succeed without it?

Will making assumptions work?

Do all teams have the same strategy?

Does your strategy change based on your understanding of their usual strategy?

The thing is, your mindset is like the other team in this analogy – the strategy it’s using is often unconscious and yet impacts the outcome of your actions.
Win, lose or draw in life depends on how well you understand your mindset.
What people are discovering on the procurement mindset challenge this week is how much difference bringing into our conscious awareness is having on them moving towards the goals they’ve chosen.

Understanding our mindset is the difference that makes the difference.
You can choose to leave it hidden from view just like an iceberg or bring it into the open so that choices can be made about its efficacy and effectiveness in you achieving the results you want.
What will you choose?

Monday, 9 September 2019

We had fun on the 5 day procurement mindset challenge today with peeps from Dubai, Atlanta, France and the Outer Hebrides with me live in Scotland. I’ve people signed up from India and Australia, who will be watching on replay, so it’s certainly a global challenge. (Interesting I decided to video with the map of the world behind me.)
Here’s me demonstrating the need to put the right mindset on for a specific goal. After all a sun hat won’t be that effective to swim in, and a swimming hat won’t help keep the sun off my face! What's on your prescription for accessing the mindsets you need daily?

Can't see the Wood for the Trees

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“Alison has a strong passion and energy for what she does which was demonstrated in her ability to run an innovative session for my team, (using a number of unconventional tools), that identified what was holding us back from being a high performing team. This ability, when coupled with her capability to bring fun into the session, was a powerful tool for helping my team realise their full potential.”

"Alison brings a unique blend of effective facilitation skills together with an in depth understanding of the corporate world. This enable her to subtly lead executives through the frameworks for change process (one of the unconventional tools she uses) that eliminates the barriers to moving forward and enables both individuals and teams to find the right track to improve performance, results and personal well being. I can highly recommend Alison to leaders who are looking for, and are prepared to explore something that is different but is so very effective.”